Monday

Crosslin:

    My alarm clock goes off at 6:40 a.m.  and I instantly open my phone to check Snapchat, only to be reminded that it’s not there. Typically, I will check Snapchat and other apps such as Instagram and Twitter as soon as I wake up. The brightness tends to wake me up, and I get out of bed quicker. This morning, however, I snoozed my alarm until 7:30 a.m. Despite my struggle to get out of bed, I noticed that I was able to slightly focus more in my classes. During class, I would open my phone to distract myself from doing my work, but I suddenly realized there was little for me to do on my phone. I tried playing games, but I quickly got bored and came to the conclusion that I was just wasting my time. 

Eliza:

    It is currently 11:39 p.m. of my first day without social media and I can proudly say, I made it. Before today I had really low expectations and little faith in the idea of a week without any socials, but now, I have high hopes. The morning was rough, I woke up and immediately reached for my phone, ready to hop on Instagram and lay in bed for an extra 10 minutes only to realize that it was no longer there. I got out of bed, got dressed and ready to go and even had time to toast a bagel. Usually, I would scroll through Instagram or Snapchat on the way to school and having to replace that with a couple games and looking out the window is just not as entertaining. However, as the day went on I realized how little I was reaching for my phone. I didn’t have the constant feeling of wanting to check to see what was going on and it overall increased my productivity. I remained attentive in all of my classes, and accomplished double the amount of work I usually would have during lunch. When I got home, I had a long list of things to do. My physics homework was due at 10 p.m., my APUSH quiz was due at 11:59 p.m. I also had a DBQ to write, an English packet to do, and an NHS meeting at 5 p.m. Usually, a day like this would really stress me out and keep me up until around 1 a.m., but I was able to get everything done before 11 and can calmly go to bed. I am very confident that I will struggle as the week goes on, but I hope that I remain productive.

Sara: 

   Today is my first day without social media for a week and honestly, I have high hopes. Although looking at my collective screen time for the week is usually a bit terrifying, I have gone a few days without social media before, so I think staying away from Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter and TikTok for an extra few days will be fairly painless. However, a few times today, I almost clicked on a couple of my most-frequented apps purely out of habit but I managed to stop myself before I could catch a glimpse of any content. Overall, I would say not having my socials today wasn’t difficult at all. I think the reason I didn’t miss the apps was because I was continuously occupied with other tasks, so I think as long as I have something else to do, I won’t miss social media hardly at all this week. 

Kathleen:   

    Today has been a really good day without social media. Usually when I have downtime in Chemistry I check Twitter (I get tweet notifications for Lin-Manuel Miranda, Zendaya and my parents). In Spanish, my table partner Carter scrolls through my Instagram and I update him on what our friends are doing since he doesn’t have an account, and during lunch I watch Tik Toks to relieve stress. However, today I couldn’t do any of that. During Chemistry, I finished ¾ of my homework before the bell rang, I participated in group discussions in Spanish and I did three interviews during lunch. I came home feeling productive and hung out with my sisters a little more than usual. I opened my phone and then immediately shut it off again multiple times. I did find some games on my phone to play instead of scrolling on my socials, but that didn’t waste nearly as much time nor did it generate nearly as many negative thoughts as Instagram, Twitter and TikTok. The only time I even thought of likes and comments was when I asked my mom to post a few photos (that I had already picked out) with a caption (I had already written pre-social media deletion) to my Instagram for one of my close friend’s birthday. The only sad part was missing my friends that I only message over social media. 10/10 day overall, can’t wait for tomorrow.